The Roadster Chronicles

I finished reinstalling the muffler on #777 today. I managed to find the proper nuts for the new stainless steel exhaust system at ACE Hardware, of all places. My one conundrum was how to keep the pipe to muffler gasket in-place while I tightened it down, and then I had a brain wave. Why not spray some adhesive on it to hold the gasket in situ while I tighten everything down? Works like a charm. When I pulled the steering wheel the other day in order to remove the facia, I found the felt bushing was now only a shadow of its former self. Hopefully, it will be obvious how it fits onto the column and its relationship the spring cover assembly.

January 23, 2019 I've been spending more time on #0777 lately after a few months of ignoring her completely. My intention today was to pull the instrument panel out and ship it off to Craig Seabrook at the Whitworth Shop for refurb. The further I got into it though, the more bodged work I discovered hidden behind the panel. The wiring is atrocious. Crappy crimp splices, mismatched wiring in gauge and color, wires to nowhere, and systems like the low fuel warning lamp and a number of lamps not even being connected. It's a wonder the car didn't burn to ground by now. Hell, it took me until today when I removed the Slow Running Cable from the dash to realize the damn thing wasn't even connected to anything. Go figure.  Sooo... I decided to remove the entire facia & instrument assembly and send to the Whitworth Shop for refurbishment. It will take a lot longer and cost a fair amount more money, but at least then it will be done right.  Orrr... I could try to do ...

January 23, 2019 I hate it when I lose my nuts. I was going to complete the exhaust system installation today; however, when I went to look for the down-pipe to muffler nuts, they appeared to have walked off. I know a set came with the system from Abingdon Spares, and I have a receipt from Doug Pelton's FTFU for the same specific nuts, but do you think I could find them? F^@# no! This resulted in about a 90 attempt to organize my workspace to see if I could find them. No joy.  Otherwise, I managed to reconnect the steering column mount and the starter cable, which need a bit of trimming and adjustment for the new starter. Not bad for a couple of hours work on the last warm day for a while.  Oh, and thanks to John James of Totally T-Type2 for posting Doug Pelton's article on starter switch adjustment, and thanks to Doug for said article.  BTW, I've decided two inches past the license plate is the right looking length of the tailpipe to extend out the back. I look f...

January 14, 2019 I got the grill back from Bob today with the slats all sorted. It looks great, but it took a lot of fettling to get it to fit right. All I need to do is remove it and do the final painting & polishing, and then reinstall it. Unfortunately, we lost one of the new flats along the way, so I'll have to find a suitable substitute. With this done I can now get back to work reassembling the front end, which I now think I will do before finishing the exhaust system installation. Of course, I still awaiting the fuel tank, but given the extent of immediate work I'm facing, I can certainly wait a few weeks for that to come back. In the meantime... If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there.

January 12, 2019 I can't believe it has been 10 months since I updated this Blog, but frankly, I haven't done squat-all to #0777 in that time. Life and other cars get in the way sometimes. She is still sitting on jack stands in the garage and waiting to be put back together. That said, I did give up on trying to install the new grill in the cowl and took it to a couple of gentleman down the street who restore cars, and have done for some time. Bob and his brother Tyndall restore very high-end machines for the '20s & '30s like Packards, LaSalles, Duesnburges, etc. Tyndall is also into MGs, and he has probably forgotten more about them than I will ever know. So, to prevent a complete bodge of it, I elected to hand it off to the experts. You may recall I removed the fuel tank and had it sealed last year, after which I installed a new float switch. I went back and forth as to how to address the unpainted float assembly and the black sealant, which now adorns the bot...

March 13, 2018 There was not a lot of time to do much today, but I try do at least one job each day when I'm not on the road, even if it is only something small. I did managed to get a few minor jobs put away. I finished painting the steering box bolts; however, I discovered during the process one is labeled different from the other two even thought they are the same size, length, thread, etc. It's not a big deal in the scheme of things, just something to go into the notebook to investigate later. Those bolts will have to dry a wee bit more before I'm comfortable reinstalling without chipping or marring the paint. I finally finished the starter installation. With one bolt remaining I was only waiting for the paint on clutch return spring to dry and sufficiently harden before finishing up that job. I did encounter a bit more resistance when installing that bottom bolt than I would have liked, but it's there now and it's gotta be kept. The spring is in place and...